Charles and Gloris Goff know the meaning of true love. The couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary this month and say it's a milestone that any couple can reach through dedication and compassion.

Charles knew Gloris was the one from the moment he first saw her getting off the bus in high school.

"I remember exactly when we met each other," Charles Goff said. "I looked at her as she got off the bus and I said, ‘That's my wife. That's the girl I want to go with.’ And that's the end of the story."

But it was only the beginning. Now, nearly 80 years later, Charles and Gloris Goff, 92 and 93, sat side by side in their home in Corinne, Utah, after recently celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary on July 15.

The Goffs have lived a life full of service, beginning with Charles Goff's service in World War II and continuing with the couple's service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have had their share of adventure, traveling around the world and dabbling in different professions. And most of all, they are committed to loving each other forever.

"I think anybody could enjoy the diamond anniversary if they just decided that's what they were going to do," Charles Goff said. "The only thing that would ever stop us from doing that would be ill health."

The Goffs, both natives of Idaho, said they never doubted that their marriage would last, both through this life and for eternity.

Goff remembers the day he proposed to his wife after they had dated for a few years. He said it was nothing elaborate.

"I didn't get on my knees," he said. "I think we were riding in the car, and (I) just decided that we knew each other well enough, we ought to get married."

But their life as newlyweds wasn’t just young, blissful love.

A couple of years after they had their first child, Goff decided to enlist to fight in World War II, even though his wife and baby exempted him from the draft.

"My friend and I decided that we ought to do something to help the war effort out,” he said. “We decided that someday we were going to have to tell our kids what we did during the war."

"I wasn't too happy," Gloris Goff said. She said it was hard, but she supported her husband's decision and got a job to take care of herself and her baby.

Charles Goff was with the U.S. Coast Guard for about four years, spending most of the time as a gunman aboard a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) vessel in the Pacific, often in the middle of combat.

His later careers took him through many different business ventures, from financial planning to weapon manufacturing to building log homes. The Goffs' son, Charles Goff Jr., said his mother was usually right by his father's side, working and helping with the family business.

Charles Goff said travel was also a big part of his life, noting that he has been to 60 nations in his lifetime, most of them with his wife. He said many of their closest experiences have been while they were traveling together in a foreign country.

"We've done a lot of things," he said. "As long as we've lived, we've done almost everything there is to do."

But most of all, the couple's lives have been characterized by service in their family and in the LDS Church.

Popular Comments

What a wonderful example of love! Thank you for sharing this beautiful love
story!

5:20 a.m. July 28, 2014

Top comment

LittleStream

Carson City, NV

If you want to know how to stay happily married, these people would be who you
would want to listen to! What an outstanding story of love and eternal
marriage! Thank you so much Bro and Sis Goff for sharing your love story.
Congratulations!

7:48 a.m. July 28, 2014

Top comment

ulvegaard

Medical Lake, Washington

Truly inspiring. This is rarely seen in today's world, I suspect, because
many who marry do so more for themselves than for their companion.
Relationships have become about the individual and not about the union. When
life becomes difficult
More..